General Laser & Technical Topics
What is the Maximum Thickness?
For laser cutting consider lasers in the same way you consider a shop tool. In most cases one size does not fit all.
Acrylic in various thicknesses.
Acrylic can be both laser cut and laser marked and engraved. To cut acrylic up to 25...
Model Making
A model is a 3-dimensional visual tool designed to answer questions and solve potential problems by making it easy for lay people to understand a complex project. Each completed scale model is considered a functional work of art by the maker, unique in...
Polyester
Polyester is a very good candidate for laser processing with clean cut edges that seal after laser processing.
Carbon fiber
On the carbon fiber expect some cosmetic charring of the fiber weave caused by the heat of the laser and expect a lot of fumes and...
Laser Cutting of Aluminum using a CO2 laser
For the CO2 laser, aluminum, is extremely reflective to the CO2 laser’s wavelength.
You need at least 400 watts of CO2 laser power to even attempt to cut a 1 mm thick piece of aluminum and get a good edge quality at a re...
In many ways using a laser to cutting can be visualized as being similar to laser welding.
Laser cutting is a process by which the light energy from a laser beam impinges on the work piece in order to apply intense heat and separate a desired shaped piece from a...
In general terms, the closed-cell, cross-linked foams, like those represented as expanded polystyrene (EPS foam); ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA foam), the various fluted polypropylene products like those sold under the brand name Coroplast and the extruded polystyre...
Laser Processing of Wood and Model Boards
“Timber“ is used by our UK cousins to describe sawn wood products (that is, boards). The laser processing of these items using low wattage CO2 lasers depends on the thickness and type of wood.
Most wood applications are best...
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is a Thermoplastic that is characterized by its appearance as a wax-like, lusterless and opaque plastic. Examples are bottles for motor oil, petrol containers, gas tanks for cars, milk bottles, dishware etc. The use of UV-stabilizati...
Vectored Graphics
Vectored images are defined by a 2 dimensional outline, or lase pattern, that starts at a preprogrammed start point and follows a preprogrammed point-to-point path to a defined end point. Vector images can be created with line segments consisting...
Technique #1. Laser marking direct onto glass substrate
Simply this is marking directly on the glass without coatings or additives; without using any pre-mark surface preparation. From the manufacturing perspective this is the easiest to implement as it is simply...